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Updated 4 months ago on . Most recent reply

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Rosemary Earl
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Med Term Rental Advice??

Rosemary Earl
Posted

I am in Berkeley, CA with a med term furnished rental but I'm having issues getting it rented and I have no idea why. It's a gorgeous loft with beautiful furniture, lighting, great location, and below market rate but I still can't find a tenant. It's 750 sqft and I'm trying to get a tenant to pay 2750 which will just barely cover all the monthly expenses and utilities. Ideally, I feel like the space is worth 3400 a month but I have significantly lowered the rate because I wasn't getting ANY bookings :( 

I've posted listings on furnished finder, airbnb, zillow, and vrbo. It's been on the market for 2 months now. My photos are professional. I can send photos to anyone who would like to see but I don't really want to post this link publicly because of the obvious desperation of my post lol... Does anyone know why I might be having issues getting this rented? Do I just give up?

Most Popular Reply

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Kimberly Gopp
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Northeast Florida
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Kimberly Gopp
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Northeast Florida
Replied

Here are some hopefully helpful tips and a few questions. 

Are you a" short" term rental or are you a "mid" term rental? 
How does an owner run both simultaneously?  
Annually, Does the higher nightly rate but higher vacancy rate push off the highest operating income? 
Does the Mid term monthly - little to no vacancy rate push off the highest OI? 
Pick a lane/niche and stay the course. Don't give up!

A travel nurse or relo'ing resident, student/intern can't rent from you if your calendar has a night or two locked up in the middle of their desired stay. Hope that makes sense. more on this below. 

ZILLOW- I have found paying the $29 fee to Zillow for a premium listing is worth it. Your listing placement will jump to the top. Refresh the ad periodically. Content is a big factor also. Are you an owner listing all the NO's... The Rules... its a turn off. Be accommodating, welcoming with your ad. What's the biggest value for your resident? Flexibility and solving their individual needs/logistics. 

Are you able to use photoshop or an app to add some keywords to your pics. Allows your value to stand out.  FULLY FURNISHED" "Utilities Included" attached is an example of mine. It's tough to filter these furnished units out on Zillow and if you don't pay that fee - your listing may not even come up when a potential resident is even using "Furnished" under keywords search option. Paying for premium listing is worth it. If someone locks in rental before listing expires out. You may have some days left in ad - just push out the availability date to when it is opening again to attract those potentials that are planning way ahead. Listing goes away I believe after 90 days? Most of our rentals have desired move in dates of just 2 weeks out. In most cases we do not hold a unit for someone nor do we allow a move in date reserved mths out ( like airb) unless we have a confirmed hard move out date. That would be a travel nurse. After 13 weeks and then their renewal of another 13 weeks.. you know have a good solid move in date for your next resident. 

Can you waive pet fees, if pet friendly and advertise no pet fee. No other fees..Large pets? Who the heck will rent to residents with 3 large dogs? We do. Damage deposit will cover any pet damage. Find out their problem and solve it ...they will rent from you. It's not always about the $. It's who can accommodate our unique situation, everyones is different. The hospitality element plays a huge role. 

FF - I am very active on here. I would have said" refresh your calendar at least every 3 days" but, if you are syncing your calendar with your airb listing..well read on 

I was immensely disappointment when speaking with a rep from FURNISHED FINDER to hear that FF allows for Airb listings to sync their calendar with FF. At midnight every nite your calendar will automatically refresh for you. Disappointing for many reasons. But not going on that rant right now. Any reps from FF that would like to discuss happy to do so. It's hurting our potential residents trying to find a mid term rental when the calendar has availability but for only a week or so. Residents come to FF to find a longer term stay. If they wanted a week or one month they can go to airb and prepay for their stay. It frustrates them. They call me and tell me this. They are frustrated. I listen, I acknowledge, I solve their problem and get a resident! I wish a banner would call out theses dual types of listings but I would really rather them not allow for Airbnb listings on FF site and stay in there on lane as well. So there was a short rant after all. FACTS

Set FF leads filters to UNMATCHED leads also. Some people can push up the budget because they find some other value you are offering. I will dump the rate if it does not have another resident waiting to move in. Better to take less cash flow than be in the hole on the unit. Reach out to un matched leads with your value. Once you get more units you can offer to stay at one to wait for other property they desired to come available. Our residents stay 6+ mths but again we are NOT on airb we are a true mid term rental. I can share our link on FF with our profile of units. Some are marked not available for a while ( these are nesters - I call them - for various reasons they are just hunkered down and happy with their units and our free southern hospitality. A snap shot of some our residents currently... An executive chef - he travels with a ballet company and feeds them - A family in before school started and leaves when school ends for their out of state move. USPS contract workers building a robot to sort mail, Travel Nurses, Professionals relocating, A medical group rotating out their new surgical Dr. residents for training in jax  :) A husband of 33 years that got pushed out by his wife - hoping to go back.. but he is still renting from us ...yikes - no judgment! 
Every year off season I get a baseball player to comes to stay to be close to his son. The need for mid term rentals is there. It takes a hustle and some hospitably but totally do able. Flexibility is the ability you need to embrace. 
Also, get leads on the phone as a first method of contact if you can. Conversations with a person land so much better than a message thru FF.

Also it is helpful to know that most Corporate Housing companies or Insurance Agencies that are trying to find housing for their customers and reach out to you, they do finds leads on FF.  they will not accept your listings as an option if you have it also listed on airb. This weekend I have a family moving in to one of our properties due to their own home got some major water damage inside. The Insurance company asked if we were an airb property as they will not house their customers in airb listings. So another good reason to pick a lane. 

Loft? Is this a separate private unit, anything shared? Happy to review your ad just send the link to me directly. 

What are the terms? We offer our residents the option to terminate their agreement with just 2 weeks notice. This offers a great value for them. 

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